Hillcrest Care & Rehabilitation: Filthy Fans Found - MN
Inspectors visited the facility on August 11 and 12, 2025, as part of a complaint investigation. What they found in three separate rooms was consistent: standing fans running at close range, grates matted with whitish-gray fuzzy buildup, blade edges darkened with accumulated grime.
In Room 2, a black standing fan sat in the corner, aimed at the recliner where a male resident both sat during the day and slept at night. The grates, front and back, were covered in the fuzzy gray material. The resident said he hadn't noticed it, didn't know whether it had ever been cleaned, and added that it probably should be — but that staff were busy.
Down the hall, a white fan stood two to three feet in front of a female resident's recliner in Room 52, close enough that she could have reached it from her chair. The back grate carried the same whitish-gray buildup. The blade edges were heavy with dark material. She told inspectors she didn't think it had ever been cleaned.
A third fan, in Room 21, was running about three feet from a male resident's bed as he sat on its edge. Fuzzy grayish material on both grates, dark accumulation on the blade edges. He said he hadn't noticed it either, and thought he might have brought the fan from home.
That resident in Room 21 was on isolation precautions for a recurrent C-diff infection.
When inspectors walked through Room 52 with the housekeeping manager-in-training and the housekeeping regional supervisor on August 12, the regional supervisor was direct about how fan cleaning worked at the facility: it wasn't done on any schedule. Housekeeping cleaned fans when staff noticed they needed it. She said the department was behind on routine work because of staffing, and that she would make sure fans got addressed. Both supervisors, standing in front of the grimy fan in Room 52, acknowledged it posed potential health concerns for residents breathing the air it circulated.
The next morning, the assistant director of nursing, who also served as the facility's infection preventionist in training, was informed about the fans. She said dirty fans were not good for anyone, and specifically not good for residents with allergies, respiratory problems, or asthma, because particles in the air could enter their respiratory tracts. She said she hadn't known about the fans and would have expected housekeeping to monitor and clean them.
When inspectors asked for a policy on maintaining clean fans in resident rooms, the administrator provided a deep cleaning list that included fans. There was no policy establishing how often fans should be cleaned or who was responsible for checking them on any regular basis.
The violation was cited at a level of minimal harm or potential for actual harm, affecting a few residents. It is among the lower severity tiers in federal inspection findings. But the residents whose rooms inspectors entered were not hypothetical. One of them told inspectors the staff were too busy to deal with it. Another said she didn't think the fan had ever been cleaned. The third hadn't noticed the buildup at all, and sat three feet from it every day.
Nobody had been checking.
Full Inspection Report
The details above represent a summary of key findings. View the complete inspection report for Hillcrest Care & Rehabilitation Center from 2025-08-14 including all violations, facility responses, and corrective action plans.
Additional Resources
Data source: Official federal inspection data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Editorial process: AI-synthesized regulatory data, reviewed for accuracy by our editorial team.
Professional review: All content reviewed by Christopher F. Nesbitt, Sr., NH EMT & BU-trained Paralegal.
Last verified: July 28, 2026 · Our methodology
Hillcrest Care & Rehabilitation Center in MANKATO, MN was cited for violations during a health inspection on August 14, 2025.
Inspectors visited the facility on August 11 and 12, 2025, as part of a complaint investigation.
Health inspections identify deficiencies that facilities must correct. Violations range from minor documentation issues to serious safety concerns. Review the full report below for specific details and facility response.